A dramatic and compelling hour in the two-mile chasing division on Sunday started at Leopardstown, where Un De Sceaux, the favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March, started his campaign with a fall for the second year in a row. Both Un De Sceaux and Ruby Walsh, his jockey, emerged unscathed, but last year’s Arkle Trophy winner eased from 6-4 to 7-4 with several bookmakers to follow up at the 2016 Festival meeting in March.
Un De Sceaux was the 1-8 favourite when he fell on his debut over fences at Thurles in November 2014, and a 1-4 chance to win Sunday’s Grade One feature event over two miles at Leopardstown. As ever, Willie Mullins’s chaser set out in front and, though he had not shaken off Flemenstar and Simply Ned on the run to the second-last, he was travelling like the winner.
When Ruby Walsh asked Un De Sceaux to pick up, however, he hesitated and crashed through the fence instead. Simply Ned then opened a clear lead but started to tie up going to the last to allow Flemenstar, once seen as the most exciting novice chaser in Ireland, to record his first Grade One victory since December 2012.
Mullins felt that his horse had been too fresh for his first run since April. “I presume Un De Sceaux is OK as I haven’t heard any bad news from my staff,” the trainer said. “He just ran too fresh, and he only jumped the first and the first ditch well. I didn’t think that he would finish.”
For Anthony Curran, who father Stephen is the owner of Flemenstar, the 10-year-old’s success was not just a first victory at Grade One level, but his first victory, full stop. “I only took out a licence in the summer and that’s my first winner,” Curran said. “He could run next at Punchestown at the end of January but he’s very ground dependent. It will have to be soft wherever he runs.”
Un De Sceaux was unbeaten in four starts, including three Grade Ones, after his fall at Thurles last year and, despite his sudden exit at the second-last on Sunday, he remains favourite for the Champion Chase next spring. His delayed seasonal debut suggests that his high, punishing cruising speed remains intact, as the first two horses over the line were out on their feet after chasing him, but Un De Sceaux is also prone an occasional lapse of concentration.
That is understandable for a seven-year-old with just half a dozen starts in chases behind him, but the Champion Chase now promises to be a gripping and sometimes fretful ride for Un De Sceaux’s backers, and a captivating spectacle for all racing fans, whether they are with Un De Sceaux or one of his rivals.
Walsh and Mullins were back on track at Grade One level half an hour later when Long Dog made all the running to win the Future Champions Novice Hurdle by three-quarters of a length from Gordon Elliott’s Tombstone.
Long Dog started his campaign at Sligo in mid-July, and has now won six times in as many races this season, despite Walsh never feeling entirely happy in front on Sunday.
“He’s very tough,” Walsh said. “I never felt like I was travelling that well, and it felt like I was going as fast as I wanted to be going, but he stuck at it really well. He took one or two chances, as I was having to throw him at a few hurdles just to hold my position. At the second-last he seemed to find another gear and from there he stuck at it really, really well.”
Rich Ricci, the owner of Long Dog, said afterwards that he expects the five-year-old to step up in trip at Cheltenham in March, and he is a 16-1 chance for both the Neptune Novice Hurdle, over two miles and five furlongs, and the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle, over three.
Ricci also remained noncommittal over the likely Festival target for his chaser Vautour, who was beaten a head in the final stride in Saturday’s King George VI Chase at Kempton.
“Vautour was brilliant and very brave,” Ricci said. “It’s a real head-scratcher. I’m not sure what to do and we’ll think about where he goes next.
“I’m happy, for the time being, to continue planning Vautour for the Gold Cup, He lost nothing in defeat and jumped brilliantly. We’ll have to see how he comes out of the race, but I’m happy to aim both of them [Vautour and the ante-post favourite Djakadam] there and things will become clear, I suppose.”
